Abstract
The development discourse has been thrown into a disarray and paradigmatic quagmire by the impasse of neo-liberal transnational social cartographies. There are calls within the development discourse fraternity to deterritorise the concept of development so as to grapple with it sufficiently and effectively. Failure to adhere to this call, various development discourses have been accused of methodological territorialism. This paper uses critical hermeneutics to argue that the trajectory from Trickle Down and Basic Needs Theory to Human Rights, Capability and Functionings approaches to development is fundamentally a paradigm shift from territorial to social cartographies. This paper further argues that despite the significance of social cartographies occasioned by neo-liberal globalisation, territorial cartographies as envisaged by structuralists, post-structuralists, post-developmentalists, post-colonialists and global ethnographers are still vital because of their thorough critique of the power discourse behind structures that disadvantage individuals. The paper contends that in order to realise engendered development, it is pertinent to ultimately look at the individual who is the basic ingredient of a moral society (ethical individualism) as well as the structures and strictures that disempower and vulnerablelise individual moral agents.
Highlights
Since the later part of the 20th Century, the development discourse has been characterized by a paradigm shift from economism to human development
This paper uses critical hermeneutics to argue that the trajectory from Trickle Down and Basic Needs Theory to Human Rights, Capability and Functionings approaches to development is fundamentally a paradigm shift from territorial to social cartographies
This paper further argues that despite the significance of social cartographies occasioned by neo-liberal globalisation, territorial cartographies as envisaged by structuralists, post-structuralists, post-developmentalists, post-colonialists and global ethnographers are still vital because of their thorough critique of the power discourse behind structures that disadvantage individuals
Summary
Since the later part of the 20th Century, the development discourse has been characterized by a paradigm shift from economism to human development. This paper argues that development cartographies are fundamentally characterised by a plethora of subtle fetishisms premised on the belief that natural objects have supernatural powers, or that something created by people has irreversible power over people. The paper deconstructs this notion and defends the view that the structures and strictures that constrain human development within both territorial (states, households, institutions, governments, etc.) and social cartographies (transnational relations, gender relations, race relations, class relations, etc.) are a product of individuals and are dynamic rather than static. The life process of society, will not lose its veil of mystery until it becomes a process carried on by a free association of producers, under their conscious and purposive control” (Morrow, 2008)
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